One Billion Rising Flashmob in Kitchener-Waterloo

ONE BILLION RISING | #1billionrising

ONE BILLION RISING began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. With the world population at 7 billion, this adds up to more than ONE BILLION WOMEN AND GIRLS.

ONE BILLION RISING IS:

A global strike

An invitation to dance

A call to men and women to refuse to participate in the status quo until rape and rape culture ends

An act of solidarity, demonstrating to women the commonality of their struggles and their power in numbers

A refusal to accept violence against women and girls as a given

A new time and a new way of being

In 2011, Waterloo Regional Police Service responded to 555 sexual assault reports and 6019 domestic violence reports. When we consider that less than 10% of sexual assaults are reported to police nationally, we begin to glimpse the magnitude of gendered violence in our own community.
Today, February 14th (Valentine's Day), Waterloo Region rose with activists, writers, thinkers, celebrities, and women, men and transfolk across the world to express our outrage, demand change, strike, dance, and RISE in defiance of the injustices women suffer, demanding an end at last to violence against women.